8 Haiku

Cursing a fly who
won’t leave through the opening
I make in the screen

The golden hour—

a drunken man on the train 
mutters to himself

Sunday night’s full moon

gleams white in the chilly air—
laughing partiers

*

Speeding over roofs

on a train after sunrise—
the redheaded trees

Silhouettes of two

socks in a shaded window—
walking in the rain

Stain of a shadow

on a sunlit red brick wall—
big curly tree head

*

A cello swelling
in the fluorescent belly
of a train station

For George Carlin:

Earth suddenly shrugs

Man off its back, thanking us
for all the plastic



.

Hey Big Eyes

Hey Big Eyes you spy the prize and realize
This paradise is not so nice—don’t seem surprised!
What do you do? They’ll tell you to see just it through
Play it cool and pay your dues—no way you’ll lose

Just remembering them

You can see it again

Remember friend so many men have seen the sham

It’s old as man—forget it and it’s here again
I don’t know the way to go but I am sure
Other men have also been where I am

Just remembering them

You can see it again

(Those shadows creeping all around your door

 Oh how long can they remain
 To stain what keeps you keeping on?
 Will they ever be gone?)

One night I’d been in the wind and saw something

A crackling wire sparkling light into the sky
The sparks joining the stars up there in heaven then
A crackling wire sparkling light one winter night

Just remembering them

You can see it again



.

Flashes 23

Addressing
oneself
as “my friend”

Meditation  =  not

forcing my mind
into areas

You can

only control
you

*

Singing

is his
yoga

Did the driver

just announce this stop
as “Run Of Jewels”?

His

deliberate
shoes

*

“I don’t want

fame—I want
to get down!”

Tattoos:

illusions
of permanence

Pretty girl

with soupy
eyes

*

Pricing
everything
out of reach

They haven’t discovered

what matters
yet

Thrills that are never
as good as you
thought they would be



.

8 Haiku

Out of a shadow
cat crosses a lamp-lit street
into a shadow

Against foggy skies—

little dog white, she in blue,
and the poop bag green

Shadows of the ferns

waving to the breezy ferns
from a train’s window

*

Grey sea and grey sky—

a calligraphy of gulls
rippling in the wind

Pretty little cat

eyeing me as she prances,
leads me to her dish

Crackling transformers

on telephone poles toss sparks
into starry skies

*

Efforts of these gulls
flapping against a weak breeze—
autumn afternoon

Crescent moon lying

on its back like a rowboat
in a starry sea



.

Can't Reach You There

I’m going away
I’m going away
This place has got me beat
You know I just can’t stay
It’s all a big mistake
I’ve got to get away

I’m not the man

I’m not the man
Who can just fit right in
To their little plan
And when they know that I can’t
I’m on the run again

I’m in the way

I’m in the way
And they’ve got a job to do
That’s what they say
They made the place strict and straight
And aim to keep it that way

They’ve drawn the line

They’ve drawn the line
There’s nothing that I can do
To ever change their minds
I’ll slip away in the night
And leave them all behind

And so I go

And so I go
If you’ve ever felt like me
Then I know you know
And sometimes when we meet
I feel like I’m home

But friend beware

They’re everywhere
They’d chase you out of your skin
On a whim I swear
Where’s the love you keep way down deep?
They can’t reach you there



.

9 Haiku

Biking before dawn—
scratching of a dry leaf blown
across the asphalt

Dawn: climbing the stairs

out of the subway station—
giant harvest moon!

Warm evening churchbells—

in the back of a pickup
a man is napping

*

Morning commuters—

squatting on a power line,
raven cleans his feet

A puff of milkweed

climbing the noon sky—small
as an airplane, then gone

Parrots shriek at dusk

from their hotel courtyard cage—
my wine’s rather sour

*

Beware the black foot

of an ant on a mountain
many miles away

Religious statue—

crouched on one knee, searching high
heaven for a god

Trying to escape

the harsh light, in the cool grove
we seek the sunshine



.

He Said Get In

A man of rank nods at a cannon
And then he … heavily
Says “Get in”

A ragged gang gathered behind him

Angrily … yells at me
“WE WILL WIN”

Oh it’s a bad bad crowd I know

A stunned girl clutches a tabloid

Nods her head … at what she read and says
“Do you know?”

Her mother standing beside her

Lifts her eyes … to the sky and cries
“NO NO NO”

Oh there’s no way out I know

An old man gestures around him

“See for yourself … all this wealth …
Empty air”

And then I hear bird sing

Liquidly … into me
From somewhere

Oh this I know I know

.